American Littoral Society Promote the study and conservation of marine resources and their habitats, defend

the coast from harm, and empower others to do the same

50 Years of Caring for the Coast

Assessing the Impacts of Hurricane Sandy on

Coastal Habitats

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Rapid Assessment

• Requested by National Fish and

Wildlife Foundation to coordinate a

regional assessment to rapidly

evaluate the impacts of Sandy

• Focused on the physical effects on

coastal habitats and species which

depend on them

• Identify realistic opportunities to

address and remediate challenges

Approach

• Information gathered by telephone

from interviews: natural resource

managers and NGOs (LISS Habitat

Work Group)

• Geospatial change analysis

• Summaries of impacts, impact trends

and priority areas

Geospatial Analysis

Barrier Island Marsh

Littoral Society “Rapid Assessment”

• 65% of Beach and dune areas:

moderate to high impact

• 14-17% of tidal marsh areas:

moderate impact

• 9% upland forest areas: moderate

impacts

Belmar, New Jersey

Mantoloking Breach

Tuckerton, NJ on Barnegat Bay

Sandy Hook (Gateway) National Recreation Area (NJ)

Sandy Hook

Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, West Pond

Prime Hook NWR (DE) Before Sandy

Prime Hook NWR (DE) After Sandy

Kimbles Beach, NJ

Long Island Sound

Long Island Sound

Region Wide Trends

• Inlet modification

• Dune and beach erosion

• Lowered elevations

• Innundation of Tidal Marsh and

Impacts to Prey communities

• Maritime forests

• New and “Moved” habitat

• Debris and Wrack

Region Wide Trends

• Sewage, oil and industrial

contamination

• Disturbance of forest canopy

• Vulnerability leading to ‘knee-jerk”

rebuilding actions

The “good news”

• Strong evidence of success and value

of natural coastal features responding

well to storm, providing mitigation and

protection to built community

• Lesson learned? Provides arguments

for expanded use of habitat protection

and restoration as part of regional

response and mitigation strategies

The “bad news”

• Little recognition of the creation of new

habitat through natural storm response

processes

• Rush to rebuild may negatively impact

these areas and miss opportunities to

restore habitat

Inventory of Priority Projects

• Assessment created a fairly detailed

inventory of both impacted sites, a

base data set in the geospatial

analysis, and a set of priority

recommendations from professionals

• Opportunities to integrate into

response framework (FEMA,

Congressional Supplemental Funding)

LISS Habitat Workgroup Summary Recommendations

• Coordinated Tri-state restoration

response

• Develop stewardship protocols

• Integrate coastal habitat planning,

restoration and enhancements into

floodprotection investment

decisions

• Floodproof pollution sources

• Blend grey and green infrastructure

THANK YOU